Ice Queen
by SnowyRefuge
Summary: Icie is a member of a new, ranger-like organization. After being relocated for what seems like the thousandth time, she and her partner are given the task to get ready to turn Mt. Silver into a national park. But first they have to convince a certain trainer, as well as a Ninetales-worshiping tribe, to get off of the reserve. Easier said than done. Red x OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Ice Queen**

**By: Snowy Refuge**

**Yes. **_**Another**_** story. Luckily for you, however, this isn't about N, but our dearest Red about ten or so years after Leaf Green and Fire Red take place. **

**Disclaimer: Pokémon and all of the characters in Pokémon (Red, Blue, Professor Oak, etc.) belong to Game Freak, not me. Also, since he's mentioned above, N isn't mine, either. I only own Liam, Icie, and their Coworkers. Also, the book cover was made by All0412 on Deviantart.**

**Chapter 1**

It may have only been the twelfth time in two years that they had been relocated, but it seemed like the millionth.

Really, all that Liam wanted out of joining the PPA two years ago was to do better for the Pokémon of the world, go on an adventure or two, and maybe even find some people that share the same love for Pokémon that he has. That's all. Nothing too big, right?

So, then, why is it that he's always been forced to travel from one location to another, region after region, without going on any big missions? And why is it that all of this simply happens because he's got a partner with an ego the size of a Wailord that manages to piss off just about _everyone_ at their new headquarters within two months?

Well, my friends; the answer is simple. Poor Liam just has bad luck.

Like, _really_ bad luck.

And so this is why he sat in the cafeteria of his new headquarters, alone, with his head pressed firmly against the table, his tray of food left untouched.

Lulu, his Teddiursa, sat on top of the table next to him with her paw prodding at some of the food in her own bowl. Every now and then, she would look to the side to make sure that her blonde master was fine, and then go back to playing with her food. Apparently, she wasn't in too much of a mood for eating, either.

Not that Liam could blame her. He was sure that she was just as sick and tired of all of these relocations as he was. They didn't deserve this, relocating every other month and being given death glares from other PPA agents just because he was partnered up with the ice queen of his generation. It just wasn't fair, to Liam _or_ his Pokémon. He didn't even _choose_ Icie as his-

"Hey, Liam!" At the sound of his name, the young man lifted his head from the table and turned it in the direction of the voice.

There, standing to the side of his table, were three children crowding behind a tall green-haired woman. The woman's dark red eyes were sparkling and her lips were drawn into a large grin that lit up her tanned face. Liam squinted at the woman for a moment, unable to conjure up the woman from his memory, before a light bulb went up in his head and a smile began to stretch across his own face. "Carly! Long time, no see!" He greeted her fondly and watched her with dark green eyes as she sat down next to him.

The three children soon followed suit and sat themselves down across from the two adults without a word. One was a boy with light blue hair and green eyes that sized him up silently. Sitting next to the blue haired boy was a girl with brown eyes and matching short hair that wore glasses; Liam could practically see the intelligence running through her eyes as she stared at him. The last one was a blonde boy that sat in his chair uncomfortably, watching everything that moved in the room with a timid purple gaze.

"Nice seeing you, too," Carly greeted, and then followed Liam's eyes to the children. She smiled embarrassedly. "They're not mine," she assured him teasingly. "They go to school not too far away from here and they're taking a kind-of field trip where I guide them around for a few months and teach them about the life of a PPA agent."

"Oh," Liam nodded. "So, then, these are possible recruits for the future?"

"Yep; they were having trouble deciding whether they wanted to work here, at the Pokémon Protection Association, or be one of those overrated Pokémon Rangers, so here they are!" Carly took a sweep over her small group again and indicated the boy that had been watching Liam like a hawk for the past minute. "This, here, is Sebastian, but you can just call him Sebby. He doesn't mind."

"Yes, I do mind," Sebastian spoke up, finally letting his eyes leave Liam so that he could glare at Carly. "I told you not to call me that."

"Oh, you're just grumpy." The woman merely waved off his comment and pointed at the calculating young girl that sat next to Sebastian. "The girl sitting there next to Sebby, probably calculating a bunch of math problems in her head, is Alma."

The small girl waved to Liam and said, "Nice to meet you," rather flatly, not leaving much of an impression for the blonde man to go by.

Carly shrugged her shoulders at the girl's lack of enthusiasm and moved on to the last child, whom was still refusing to look at them. "And the last one is named Tanner." She leaned a bit closer to Liam, so that she whispered in his ear quietly enough to make sure that no one else could hear. "Now, he's really shy, so don't be surprised if he stutters a lot or doesn't look you in the eyes."

Tanner's purple eyes darted over to the older man, but then retreated to Lulu, whom was currently staring at Alma, probably transfixed by the light reflecting off of her glasses. "H-hello," he muttered softly.

Liam smiled at the three children. "Well, it's nice to meet you guys; any friend of Carly's is a friend of mine. This is my partner, Lulu, and I'm-"

"Liam," Sebastian interrupted him. "We know; Carly wouldn't shut up when she found out that you were being relocated here."

Alma pushed her glasses up and nodded. "Yes, she _was_ rather ecstatic."

Carly blushed at this statement and glared at the young girl. "Oh, shut it, you!" She pouted, and then turned to Sebastian. "And who do you think _you_ are, Sebby? Such cruel betrayal shall not be forgotten."

The young woman's sudden, albeit goofy, reaction almost shocked Liam, although he could gather up enough intelligence as to why she may have reacted like that. On his first relocation to some town in his homeland, Johto, he had met Carly and, astonishingly, in the two months that they had been there, his partner Icie had yet to bitch at her enough to make her want to have nothing to do with them. Rumor had it that the only reason Carly put up with all of Icie's bitching by hanging out with Liam was that she was head-over-heels in love with him. And judging by the way that her eyes always lit up whenever she saw him and that he had yet to see her in a foul mood despite how her partner Jackson always complained about how grumpy she usually is, Liam wasn't sure if he could say that this rumor was too far from the truth.

At this last thought, a question suddenly popped into Liam's head and before he could stop himself, he ended up blurting it out. "Where's Jackson?"

At the sound of the name, the heads of several agents turned to their table. Some people looked upset, others angry.

Carly, however, turned to Lulu and began to pet her with a thoughtful look adorning her face and a small frown overcoming her lips. "We were out on Mount Silver a few weeks ago," she told him quietly enough so that the three children wouldn't hear. They made it very obvious that they wanted to know what was going on, however, as they had focused expressions of their faces, as if they were straining their ears to hear what was being said. "There was this Golbat on the side of a mountain with its wing stuck under a boulder, and Jackson climbed over to try and help it, but…" She bit her lip. "There was an avalanche. I just barely made it out of the way, so when it was over, Tyranitar and I went searching for him…"

Liam sent an apologetic look to her as realization dawned on his face. "You didn't find him."

"Just a few of his pokéballs and the Golbat, but it was already dead."

The life of a PPA agent could be dauntingly tragic at times.

Liam leaned back in his chair and shook his head. Jackson dead? It seemed incomprehensible. The guy had been so lively the last time he'd seen him. Then again, if that were the truth, then it would explain why Carly was stuck with three little kids. She wouldn't be allowed to do any more missions or tasks until they found her a new partner to work with…

"So what about Icie?"

The blonde's head snapped back into Carly's direction. "Huh?"

"Well, you asked me for an update on _my_ partner," she said. "So, how about you tell me how _yours_ is doing?"

Liam scratched the top of his head awkwardly. "She crashed out in her bunk as soon as we got here last night, and I haven't seen her since then. She usually goes to bed as soon as we reach a new HQ, though, so she should be fine. The flying just gives her motion sickness." He rambled aimlessly, hoping that the answer would satisfy Carly, but a displeased frown took place on her lips.

"Not _that_," she rolled her eyes. "I mean… Is she still, you know…" She hesitated a moment, her eyes darting back to the kids every now and then. "B-I-T-C-H-Y?"

"_Language_," Alma warned in a flat tone that suggested that she could care less, even though the older woman technically didn't swear. She just _spelled_ a swear word. There's no real harm in that, right?

Liam ignored the ten-year-old, though, in favor of responding to his old friend's question. "Why do you think that we got relocated here?"

Carly's voice boomed with laughter and she beat against Liam's back with the palm of her hand. "You know, I really _did_ miss you, Liam, buddy!"

Liam scowled at her and rubbed his now sore back before coming back with a sarcastic remark. "Really? Because I couldn't tell, what with all of the abuse you put me through. I should have had you sued by now!"

Sebastian and Alma, for the most part, were watching the two of them goof around with little interest, but poor little Tanner was through with their antics and swept his nervous gaze around the cafeteria to try and find something to distract him. Mostly, he was on the search for Pokémon because they couldn't intimidate him nearly as easily as people could.

In his search, he spotted a pair of long blue ears that connected to the head of a rather composed Glaceon. The Glaceon, a male as he soon discovered, was strutting close to a pair of fuzzy white boots, his head high with pride and his stride the perfect combination of gracefulness and confidence. The ice-type walked slowly, his tail waving from side to side in what appeared to be delight and rubbed his head against the leg of the person that he was walking next to. In response, a gloved hand reached down and stroked the top of the Pokémon's back, scratched behind his ears, and patted the top of his head.

The child's eyes followed the hand until he reached the pale face of a young woman, probably no older than her mid-twenties, wearing a dark blue ski cap that sat on the top of long black hair and a large white scarf that obstructed the view of most of her face, so the most that he could see were her pale blue eyes that stared intensely at the Pokémon she was petting.

Now, Tanner had been at the HQ with Alma and Sebastian for a week, so he had met most of the PPA agents that worked at Mount Silver, but he had never seen this woman, so obviously, she must have been new. And judging by the fact that Liam and his partner were the only people that he had heard were relocating there…

"U-Uh…" Carly and Liam stopped in their excited chatter and turned to the shy young boy, who was pointing in the direction. "I-Is that lady over there M-Ms. Icie?"

Frowning, Liam turned around in his chair to look at the figure Tanner was pointing at. Once his eyes set on the woman, he sighed, but before he could say anything, Carly responded first. "That's Icie, alright. Only _she_ would wear a coat and scarf in this building. I swear, it's always, like, eighty or something in here."

"Seventy-Six," Alma corrected. "That's what the thermostat at the door says."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Tanner watched as this "Icie" woman stood up and dusted her gloves off on her dark blue coat and began looking for an empty table with her Glaceon at her side. "She d-doesn't seem as m-mean as you guys say," he voiced weakly.

The two adults that sat across from him blinked in silence, but then a moment later, they burst out laughing. "You must be looking at the wrong person, then," Liam choked out, wiping a tear from his eye. "She's the most cold-hearted person that I know. Don't get me wrong or anything, I love her like she's my little sister, but she's just plain cruel and self-absorbed."

"Oh, really, now?" Carly waggled her eyebrows mischievously with a wide grin on her face and, before anyone could see it coming, she stood up and waved to Icie. "Yo! Icie! Get your butt over here, girl!"

Icie's head turned in their direction and she watched them with cold, calculating eyes and began to walk towards their table. Liam instantly pulled Carly back into her seat in a sudden state of panic. "Carly! What are you doing?"

She grinned at him. "Teaching the kids a quick lesson about the PPA's Ice Queen."

Liam would have reprimanded her if not for the fact that Icie had officially reached their table and stood in front of them with her arms crossed and her foot tapping against the floor impatiently. "Yes?"

Carly's innocent grin seemed to annoy the woman even more, but she ignored it. "Well, first I wanted to say hello. I haven't seen you in over a year; I missed you, Icie!"

There was an annoyed twitch of the eyebrow. "Hello."

Carly grinned even more. She wasn't expecting much more of a response, anyway. Liam flashed a warning glare in the green-haired woman's direction, but she was already past the point of no return.

"I also wanted to tell you that Liam said he's in love with you."

"**WHAT?!**"

Never before in his entire life had Liam wanted to strangle someone nearly as much as he wanted to strangle Carly at the very moment. He especially felt distressed when Icie's now narrowed pale blue eyes (partially for which she was nicknamed) landed on him in a cold stare.

She pulled down at the scarf that covered the bottom half of her face, and everyone could see her scowl. "I'm aware that I'm probably the most beautiful woman you've ever laid eyes on," she said rather arrogantly, much to the children's surprise. Her eyes only narrowed even more. "But get your head out of the gutter, Liam. I don't have time for your petty crushes."

And, just like that, she turned her back to an open-mouthed Liam and walked away, her Glaceon purposely brushing Liam's leg with his tail as he scampered off after Icie with an upbeat rhythm to his step.

As soon as Icie was out of ear-shot, Carly turned to the three kids while snickering quietly to herself. "And that, children, is precisely why you should _always_ be careful about what you say to Icie. She'll crush your hopes and dreams without even so much as blinking."

Sebastian stared at her. "She sure seems like she's got some issues," he stated.

Everyone at the table voiced their agreements and began to talk about anything ranging from Alma being at the top of her class, to Carly attempting to bathe Tyranitar last week only to end up a sloppy, bubbly mess, to Tanner's inexplicable awkwardness (Tanner didn't really care if people kept asking him why he was so shy around people; it wasn't as if there was any real _reason_ for it, anyway).

And, really, this was all that they did for half of the day, because there isn't much for a PPA agent to do during the day when you're not on a mission, so most people either hung out in the cafeteria, went outside to train, or headed out to town. But with another snow storm having been kicked up right after Liam and Icie made it to Mount Silver last night, it didn't look like very good weather for most people to be training in. They'd probably freeze to death before they could call out a first move.

However, when Liam received a call on his phone, he had been so happy to have something else to do that he didn't even bother to check the caller I.D. before he flipped it open and practically yelled into the phone, "Hey, Liam here!"

Carly started talking with the kids, so he got up from the table and stood in the corner when the other person's voice came through.

"Hello, Mr. Chester," the smooth voice of a man found itself ringing inside of Liam's ears. To the side, Lulu was becoming bored with the four people that she's been hanging out with the entire day and jumped down from the table, starting to walk towards Liam. "This Daniel Corey."

Daniel Corey. The PPA's head at Mount Silver.

Instantly, Liam's back straightened, despite the fact that the man over the phone couldn't see him. Lulu looked up at her friend, curious as to what was going on. "Mr. Corey," the words stumbled out of Liam's mouth nervously. The heads don't normally call him within the first week of his arrival. Had Icie done something already? "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

Even though he wasn't by the table anymore, Liam was still able to catch Carly snorting in laughter at his stiffness. A few of the other people in the cafeteria that had taken to eavesdropping were doing the same.

"Well, I would like to see you in my office as soon as possible with your partner, Caroline Meriwether," Daniel Corey replied coolly from his end of the phone, referring to his partner's actual name rather than the nickname that she would normally only respond to. This brought a little bit of relief to Liam. If Icie wasn't already there, then it was most likely that she hadn't gotten into any sort of trouble. Yet.

"Yes, sir! I'll be there as soon as I find her!"

After hanging up, Liam said good-bye to Carly and the kids and went into a search for Icie. He couldn't find her in the cafeteria and she wasn't in her room, so he figured that she was outside. Cold weather never really bothered her, and since she specializes in ice-type Pokémon, they normally have no issues with snow storms.

So he braced himself and, after grabbing the largest coat that he could find and stuffing Lulu in it to keep the both of them warm, walked out into the frigid courtyard that marked their training area.

Surprisingly, he spotted his partner rather quickly, since she was the only person out there. She sat on the snow-covered ground with her back against an old tree, wisps of frosty breath made visible from over her thick scarf by the cold air. Her Cubchoo sat in her lap while she stroked the top of his head and her Glaceon sat curled up to her side. Up in the tree above her, Weavile sat on a branch with her arms crossed and eyes closed, possibly resting.

Delibird looked up from something that he was playing with in his hands and Mamoswine stopped trudging around in the snow as Liam entered the courtyard. They stared at him for a quick moment and then went back to their business.

Icie also looked over at him, and Liam went to check what was in the direction that she had been staring at beforehand. Lapras slept with her head bowed, floating serenely at the top of the water of a pond in the corner of the courtyard.

"What is it now?"

At the annoyance that came from his partner's mouth, Liam looked over at her again. She was glaring at him.

He cleared his throat and watched an icy fog rise out of his own mouth. "Mr. Corey wants us."

She raised her eyebrow, and Liam was able to spot Weavile opening a single eye when Lulu's head popped up from the top of his coat. "I didn't do anything," Icie told him defensively.

"I know."

Icie stared at him another moment before she returned all of her Pokémon to their pokéballs and got up with a sigh.

As she walked past him into the doors of the building, Liam was just able to make out something that she was muttering to herself.

"_This better be good_."

When the door closed behind her, Lulu looked up at her master's face, which was distorted with some sort of disappointment. "Ursa?"

Liam looked down at his Pokémon and lightly ruffled the top of her head with the palm of his now near-frozen hand. "Let's get going."

**Author's Note:**

**So, that's it. Please feel free to review and tell me how I did. ****But, please, don't be too harsh on Icie; I don't think her tiny black hole of a heart will be able to take it. (As some of my readers may be able to tell, I like having bitchy heroines; they just make the story all the more interesting.) **

**Thanks; see you next chapter (maybe)!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, thanks for the follows and favorites, but I would mostly like to thank my first reviewer, nightrader1234! Seriously. I love you! And thanks a ton! Oh, and I'd like to thank All0412 from Deviantart for letting me use that awesome piece of artwork as the book cover for this story. You rock!**

**Oh, and I've got some news once you get to the final Author's Note~ Be sure to check it out, because I'm sure that **_**at least**_** one or two of you will be interested.**

**Ice Queen**

**By: Snowy Refuge**

**Disclaimer: Pokémon and all of the characters in Pokémon (Red, Blue, Leaf, Professor Oak, etc.) belong to Game Freak, not me. I only own Liam, Icie, and their Coworkers. Also, the book cover was made by All0412 on Deviantart.**

**Chapter 2**

By the time that Liam had returned Lulu to her pokéball and caught up with Icie, she was already at Daniel Corey's office door, waiting for him, foot impatiently tapping against the floor and arms crossed over her chest.

Liam watched the scarf that was obstructing the view of her face and sighed. "You know, you can take that off now," he muttered even though he wasn't expecting any results. He'd tried reasoning with Icie over this several times before and always got the same response. "We're not outside anymore, and you look ridiculous…"

As usual, Icie just snorted. "And ruin _this_ perfect complexion?" She raised an eyebrow sarcastically. "Yeah, right; you're just jealous that your skin isn't as beautiful as mine."

For some reason, Icie thinks that vitamin D is a bad thing. She also thinks that she can somehow get a tan by being in the same room as a light bulb. The only times that he'd ever seen her take off her scarf and coat were the few times they took trips to bars or when it was raining on warm days.

Liam sighed and rubbed his temples with his hands. "Whatever," he muttered, walking up to her and putting his hand on the door knob. "Let's see what Mr. Corey wants."

Icie nodded, and Liam took the liberty of opening the door and slipping inside with his partner close by. When they entered, they found a fairly large office with a desk set in the middle of the room and two red chairs back up on the wall that the desk was facing. Behind the desk was a large chair with its back turned towards the pair of young adults that had only just entered.

Liam, however, _was_ able to pick up the faint scent of cigarette smoke, and his nose crinkled slightly.

Icie, however, felt no sense of restraint and used both of her hands to press her scarf closer to her nose in an attempt to ward off the repulsive smell. Liam, catching this quickly, elbowed her in the ribs, but she glared at him and, in a voice much too loud than what it called for, said "What? If I keep breathing _this_ in, I'll infect my precious lungs with cancer."

Liam's mouth hung open widely as the person sitting in the chair spun around, reacting to his partner's outburst, and was met with a pair of dark brown eyes. The man, probably Mr. Daniel Corey, did not seem angered by Icie's insult. He did, however, look a little surprised, as his eyebrows were raised and he had a lit cigarette hanging between his fingers.

Liam stood straight and gave a respective nod in the man's direction. "Sir," he greeted him with a large portion of embarrassment overtaking in his tone. Icie, still pressing the scarf against her face, merely gave a halfhearted wave and told him to "put that stinking abomination out."

Mr. Corey simply shrugged and did as told, smothering the flame in the ashtray next to his computer and turned back to the pair with his hands folded in his lap. His first words made Liam's heart sink a little.

"I can see that we'll be having a few disobedience issues," he noted with a sigh.

"I'm so sorry about her, Si-" Liam started, only to be cut off.

Daniel Corey held out his hand to stop him. "Have you two had enough time to settle in yet?"

To this question, the blonde trainer would have normally wanted to be honest and tell him that, no, they were still unpacking their things, but he decided against it instead and nodded. "Yes, sir."

Daniel Corey clasped his hands together and a lazy smile stretched across his face. "Excellent!" He reached over onto his desk and picked up a small pile of papers and held them out to Liam, who, rather hesitantly, took them. "Because I know that you guys have only just arrived at Mount Silver, but I have a very important task that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible, and I believe that you two may just be the people that I'm looking for."

Liam's eyes shot up above his hairline, and Icie took the papers from his hands with a mildly surprised expression. She might be the reason that they almost never get missions, but that doesn't mean that she hasn't noticed it yet. Icie's not stupid. (Just mean.) She knows that people generally don't like her.

After studying the papers for a good thirty seconds, Icie looked up at Daniel Corey. "You sure that you got the right people?"

A small smile broke on Daniel Corey's lips, and then his shoulders began to shake. And then he was covering his lips with his hands and making muffled noises that sounded like laughter.

It was a little intimidating, the way he was laughing at Icie's question. It had Liam all but convinced that the mission they were going on was suicide.

Liam's scrambled mind had to be put at ease, however, when his new boss stopped laughed and shook his head, a wide grin still resting on his lips. "No, no," he said in an amused tone that had the younger man's skin crawling. "I'm certain that I have the perfect people for the job."

Icie handed her partner the papers that were given to her, but Liam hesitated as he took them into his own hands. Even then, his gaze kept darting back in forth between the over-dressed girl standing next to him, his new employer, and his first assignment in what seemed like ages.

"Afraid to look?" Daniel Corey asked, his lips coiled into a relaxed smirk. Liam looked over to him and nodded, which evoked a laugh out of Mount Silver's PPA head. "I was planning to brief over it with the two of you before I did anything, first, so feel no fear. Now please, sit down."

His amiable banter had the young blonde man relax some, even if only slightly. He uncomfortably followed Icie's example and lowered himself down onto one of the plush red chairs that sat adjacent to the desk. In the chair next to him, Icie snatched the papers back out of his hands; she already had her legs crossed and arms draping over the sides of the chair in the most relaxed way possible. She never _did_ waste time in making herself right at home.

Daniel faced the two and, with his elbows using the desk as support, leaned his head down on top of his folded hands. "I'm not sure if anyone has informed you yet," He started, "but, as an organization started for the sole purpose of protecting and preserving nature and the Pokémon that inhabit it, the Pokémon Protection Association has had the notion of turning Mount Silver into a national park."

Liam had not heard about this.

Why didn't Carly mention it to him?

"… There are some issues with this plan, however," his boss's voice broke into Liam's worried mind, and he pushed Carly out of his head for the time being. Daniel Corey's eyes had hardened suddenly. "Two issues to be exact. The first one being that there's a native tribe that call themselves the Silver Warriors living on the other side of the mountain from where we are right now. We may have problems convincing them to leave their reserve due to the fact that they've lived there for centuries."

Liam would have asked if moving them was such a good idea, as the natives technically had rights to those lands, but Daniel Corey seemed to see the hesitation in his eyes. "This is for the greater good," he assured him. "Poachers have been coming into Mount Silver a lot lately, and the only real way prevent them from going in there more efficiently is to put up more of a guard around the perimeter of the mountain and doing a bag check on the people that go in and out. The only way we can have legal rights to that is by making it a national park."

Liam looked down a little in shame, and Icie caught his eye. She was actually showing some interest in what she was reading in the papers that their boss had prepared. He could see it in her eyes. There was something interesting there. The blonde cleared his throat and looked back at Daniel Corey. "So, then… What's the second problem?"

The older man smiled and leaned forward in his chair. "Our next problem," he breathed out excitedly, "goes by a few names. But the one you will most commonly hear being used is 'The Indigo League Champion.'"

* * *

And so it was the very next day that Liam found himself climbing up the side of Mount Silver with Lulu stuffed back into his coat and Icie and her Glaceon testing a ledge with the tips of their feet. Experimentally, Icie rested her boot onto the ground in front of her and, when nothing collapsed beneath her feet, she walked forward more confidently. Liam always wished that he could have that kind of confidence.

He looked over to his side to try and look over the mountain, but saw nothing but a flurry of frozen rain that clouded most of his vision. He shivered a little bit, and looked down at Lulu, concerned for his partner's wellbeing. The Teddiursa snuggled her head on his chest in an adorable way, and he felt himself become relieved that she wasn't nearly as cold as he was.

Still.

He hated winter. With all of his being.

With a sigh, Liam carefully tracked his way across the ledge, being sure to step only where Icie had been. He looked back over to where she was and called out to her. "Can you remind me again just _why_ we decided to climb to the top of the mountain instead of going _around_ it to talk to the Silver Warriors first?"

Icie's eyes wound back in search of him after finding yet another safe spot to put her foot and grunted at him. "Stop being such a baby. I've been in worse weather, you know."

"Yeah," Liam retorted, "because you were born and raised in conditions like these. I've lived out on the beach my entire life, you know."

"Oh, boo-hoo; poor you," his partner bit back sarcastically. "Look, another storm will be kicking up again in another day or two, so excuse _me_ for thinking that you would rather climb the mountain to find Mr. Pokémon Master when there _wasn't_ a blizzard that you would freeze your sorry ass off in."

Liam was about to snap something at her, but decided against it at the last moment. There's no arguing with Icie. Otherwise, the fighting would _never_ end.

So he followed after the woman silently the rest of the way, only opening his mouth to say a few reassuring things to Lulu, who was just beginning to look cold despite how hard he was trying to keep her warm. He'd tried to put her back in her pokéball, but she kept shaking her head every time he so much as touched it.

Luckily for the pair, however, it wasn't long before they reached the top of the mountain, which was, much to their surprise, relatively flat. The wind was biting at his face even more than before, but Liam was still relieved that their journey could come to an end for the moment and trotted after Icie happily, ignoring the way that his boots had to be dragged through inches of snow.

The house was small, really. It was a log cabin, with a wide porch and two dusty windows on either side of the door that stood uneasily in the middle. The thing looked as if it was in shambles, and with the weather up here, Liam found himself being unsurprised. The only thing that really came as a shock was that the _Pokémon Champion_, of all people, was living up here.

What the two failed to notice, however, was the Pikachu that dashed off in front of them with speed that was almost blinding. The yellow mouse-like Pokémon was so fast, in fact, that neither Icie nor Liam realized that he was there until he stopped at Icie's feet and sat down in the snow. The poor thing was so small that the flurries buried it up to its neck.

Icie stood there awkwardly, staring down the Pokémon as Glaceon circled him with that confident, arrogant look that matched his master's oh-so well. Only when Glaceon playfully pushed on Pikachu's shoulder with his nose did the tiny yellow Pokémon do something other than stare. It began to chase Glaceon in a game of tag, trilling in delight the entire time.

After watching the two for a moment Icie's shoulders sagged in a sigh and she waltzed on towards the cabin. Liam quickly followed after her, not wishing to be left behind in all of this snow, and finally caught up to her at the door. Icie didn't waste any time in knocking, pounding her gloved hands against the door mercilessly while Liam stood awkwardly behind her, clutching Lulu to his chest as she began to shiver.

And then, almost silently, the door opened.

There was a young man inside, just a little shorter than Icie but taller than Liam (people had always referred to the pair as a giant and elf because of their huge differences in height) with straight black hair that he wore under a red baseball cap. He was currently wearing a thick black coat to keep the cold out but anyone could see the belt full of pokéballs attached to his side. The young man kept sweeping his crimson eyes between the two PPA agents before him, assessing the situation.

Out in the distance, the Pikachu's head popped out of the snow the moment that the young man stepped out of the house, and was now bounding over to him, toppling over Liam slightly as it used his shoulder as a springboard to launch itself into the man's arms. The tiny Pokémon cooed delightedly when it was scratched behind the ears.

Liam watched the two, trainer and Pokémon, and cleared his throat, getting ready to say something, but Icie beat him to it.

"Are you the champion Red?" She stared at him intensely while Glaceon, now bored with having been abandoned by his new companion, trotted over and rubbed his head against Icie's boots like a feline.

The young man had to raise his head ever-so-slightly to look at Icie in the eyes, but he nodded seriously and Icie 'hm'd, taking out her identification card from her pocket. Liam did the same quickly, trying to make it look more uniform, and they both held the cards out to him, tapping their fingers against the PPA seal that rested on the corner.

"My name is Liam Chester and this is my partner Caroline-" Liam paused in mid-sentence as his partner drove her elbow into his side rather painfully, and he quickly corrected himself – "…I mean Icie Meriwether." The young woman nodded at him in approval. Most people would probably hate it if they were nicknamed off of their bad personality traits, but for some reason, Caroline Meriwether always seemed to take pride in the name 'Icie.' Then again, she always has been a bit strange, so maybe he shouldn't look too deeply into it. It's probably because of her unnatural fascination for ice-types, anyway…

He cleared his throat and continued. "We're with the Pokémon Protection Association, and we'd like to have a word with you."

Red stared at the badges for a moment and then nodded to the odd pair, stepping to the side and opening the door wider as an invitation for them to come inside.

The cabin itself seemed to be cozy enough. Across from a lit fireplace that sat in the corner of the room they now stood in was a little brown couch and cushioned recliner chair with a small wooden coffee table. Off to the side, Liam was able to spot a small kitchen. It looked as if there was a kettle of boiling water on the stove.

As soon as the group was inside, Glaceon made himself at home, curling up in front of the lit fireplace and closing his eyes, obviously asleep in seconds. Lulu finally hopped out of Liam's coat and joined Glaceon, warming her paws in front the fire with a wide smile. Pikachu soon curled up in between the two, but it didn't really look like warmth was what it was concerned with.

Icie made herself comfortable on the couch, stretching her legs out so that she took up all of the space. Red motioned for Liam to sit on the cushioned chair, to which he gratefully obliged, and scurried over to the kettle on the stove. Icie and Liam watched him as he poured the steaming liquid into three cups and brought them back, handing one to each of his visitors.

It looked like coffee, but it smelled sweet. There wasn't much, either. This was probably because he wasn't expecting visitors.

Red sat down on top of the coffee table and sipped at his drink while Liam and Icie stared at him. Liam had a small question nagging at the back of his head, but he wasn't sure if asking it would sound offensive or not, so he tried to keep his mouth shut while staring at his cup uncomfortably.

Icie pulled down her scarf and sniffed at the substance in the cup before taking an experimental sip, then crinkled her nose and sat it down on the floor, pulling the scarf back up her face in disdain. Liam half expected her to accuse the man in front of them of attempting to poison her with calories, but she did no such thing. Instead, she went ahead and asked the very question that Liam was afraid to ask with as little shame possible. "So… You mute?"

Liam was uncomfortably staring at Red for an answer.

"No."

The shorter PPA agent's blonde eyebrows shot up as he heard the young man's voice, slightly surprised by its sudden appearance. It was soft, but it was there. "I'll take it that you're not very talkative, then?" He asked curiously.

Red shrugged his shoulders and took Icie's cup and, along with his own, brought it over to the kitchen, dumping it into the already full sink.

Quickly, Liam changed the subject as Red sat back down on the coffee table. "Then let's get down to business," he started hesitantly. Something about this man didn't feel quite right to him. He seemed… What was the word? Suspicious? No. That wasn't quite it...

He shook the thought from his head. "I'm sure that you already know this, but there's been a scary amount of Pokémon poaching on Mount Silver recently," he started hesitantly. "And our organization has been thinking about-"

Red interrupted swiftly. "I'm not leaving."

The two stared at the man, shocked. How did he know…?

But he didn't go further on the subject, as Red pointed questioningly at Liam's untouched cup, silently asking if he would drink from it. The blonde looked down at his cup and took a sip. It wasn't coffee, but hot chocolate. Odd. Men at their age typically stayed away from the stuff. But, hey, he wasn't about to complain. It tasted good and it was hot. Arceus knew he needed something warm to drink after being out in that snowstorm for the past three hours.

Red seemed satisfied that Liam was finally drinking something, and, while the blonde man was slurping the stuff down, looked to Icie. She stared back at him with a copious amount of defiance and seemed to all but challenge the man through her staring.

And Red gracefully took that challenge.

At that moment, there seemed to be some sort of debate silently going through their eyes, where Icie would attack him with daggers of ice and Red would deflect them by shooting out flames that would extinguish her weapons. Icie Blue versus Fiery Red.

And Liam had no idea what the hell was going on.

Perhaps it was just a thing with quiet people. Liam wasn't sure, having always been the kind of person to communicate through words rather than actions. He was just never able to wrap his head around the whole "actions speak louder than words," thing. But there they were, lashing out with their eyes in a battle of wills, where one waited for the other to give in and accept defeat.

But no such thing happened. They were both too thick-headed to concede in this battle.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into half of an hour before any progress was made.

Liam just sat there uncomfortably, not sure what to do while Icie mentally battled it out with the Pokémon champion. He was about to say something when he caught movement from the corner of his eyes.

Icie unzipped her coat and pulled back one of the flaps, revealing the pokéballs that were strapped to the inside.

Red nodded and stood up, heading out the door. Icie swiftly followed after him, whistling to Glaceon. The Pokémon got up and chased the two with Pikachu at its heels.

Liam sat there for a moment after they left the house, processing the odd means of communication that the two had used, and what they had just agreed to. He had no doubt in his mind that Icie had just proposed a Pokémon battle over the issue of Red leaving the mountain. As soon as this thought processed in his mind, he called for Lulu and hurried out the door.

Icie stood on one edge of the snowy field with her hair flapping madly in the wind while Red, focused and determined, stood a good hundred feet away from her. Each had their signature partner Pokémon standing at their sides with ears twitching and tails swinging from side to side in anticipation.

"You ready to lose?" Icie shouted over the roaring wind.

Nobody would have been able to see it through all the snow, but there was a hint of a smile on Red's face as he threw out a pokéball in answer.

In the flash of a bright white light came a Blastoise, standing tall and proud through the howling snowstorm.

Icie studied the Pokémon in front of her for a moment, carefully trying to figure out what her best choice would be. There would be no clear type advantage with most of the ways she went, but Liam thought that he best choices would have been Weavile or possibly Lapras.

Instead, the Pokémon that came flying from its pokéball was Delibird.

The tiny bird-like Pokémon began erratically flapping his wings in excitement in being brought out for battle and moved his feet around in an odd sort of dance.

Delibird had always been strange, a little too unusual for Liam to stomach whenever Icie brought him out. He was hyperactive, had a strange fascination with anything that shines, and often only listened to Icie. If anyone else even attempted to talk to him, Delibird would either throw a snowball in their face and laugh, or ignore them altogether.

Then again, despite his quirks and small stature, Delibird was strong. Icie's choice could have some rationale behind it.

"Blastoise, Focus Blast!"

The battle had begun.

The Blastoise focused a large amount of energy into its hands and unleashed it upon Delibird, who had gone into a Defense Curl at Icie's command. The tiny red bird was knocked backwards, rolling back a few feet, but then uncurled and hopped back up with a large grin on its face despite the new bruises that were there.

The moment that Delibird was back on its feet, Icie issued an Ice Ball attack, and the Pokémon immediately went to work while Blastoise attempted to hit it with a Flash Cannon and a few Water Blasts, but only caught him by the edge of the wing or grazed the side of his head.

The first attack Delibird made didn't do much damage at all. But the second Ice Ball that it fired showed progress. By the third shot, Blastoise was in some obvious pain, and Red was issuing a Blizzard.

With the current snow storm, it was almost unnecessary. The snow and hail and wind all whipped at Delibird's small body and caused scratches and bruises to show past its lining of white and red feathers. By the time attack was done, it wasn't knocked out, but it was nearly there.

One more Ice Ball and Blastoise would be out for the count. Icie knew it. Liam knew it. Red knew it, too. That must have been why he switched his weakened Pokémon out for the fiery Charizard that came next.

After a single Dragon Pulse, Delibird was unconscious.

"Ugh… _Fire_-types…" Icie muttered as she withdrew her Pokémon into its ball and placed it on her belt. "The very bane of my existence…" She hesitated for a moment, before taking a pokéball from her belt and throwing it into the air to reveal her Lapras. "Let's see how he handles this…"

The large Pokémon looked uncomfortable, sitting there in the snow with a tired and distressed look on its face. Lapras was a sleeper. She didn't like being interrupted from her naps, and being on land was never a pleasure. Still, she looked relieved to be among her second element, ice. She moved her fin over the layer of snow for a moment and then smiled, looking back up at her opponent.

The Charizard roared out in delight at seeing its new challenger and whipped its head back to let loose a string of bright red flames that made the opposing trainer grimace.

Lapras was hit with a Flare Blitz almost off the spot, but it soon made up for the damage by using Sing, which was quickly followed up with Dream Eater. Icie was about to issue another command, but Red withdrew his Charizard in exchange for Venasaur. There was only time for a single Ice Beam before Lapras was rendered helpless by a Sleep Powder-Giga Drain combination.

Icie would forever claim that Red had stolen her tactics during this battle, despite the fact that he had used this exact same strategy several times before.

Now it was Weavile's turn. The Pokémon came out with her arms crossed and a sly smile stretched across her lips in arrogance. Weavile was always a little too quick to battle, taunting her challengers and always figuring out ways to upset others, so seeing a new opponent was more than enough to get her going.

This part of the battle was fairly quick. Venasaur used a Sludge Bomb, which Weavile dodged with much ease, and was hit with an Ice Punch that knocked it unconscious. Icie's first win. She was beginning to sweat a little, despite the weather.

The next Pokémon was almost too easy to be true. Snorlax. It had a high defense, but it was slow and weak to Weavile's Focus Blast. After a few attacks, it was down and had to be replaced with a Lapras.

Apparently, a few Focus Blasts were enough for Lapras, too. Go figure.

Now was the challenge. Pikachu. It was fast, Icie would give it that, but she should be able to take it, since its stats were weakened from a lack of evolution. There's no way that it would be able to take down the rest of her team.

Or that's what she thought, at least. Soon enough, Weavile was hit with a Thunderbolt, which left it paralyzed and vulnerable to the next one. So next out was Mamoswine.

Electric-on-Ground battle. Piece of cake.

It wasn't. Pikachu was faster than expected- much faster. It dodged all of Mamoswine's Ancient Powers and Take Downs, moved out of the way just in time for Avalanches, and was even able to evade too much damage from Earthquake by jumping off of rocks. It was annoying as Hell. And what was even more annoying was when that tiny little Pikachu was able to take down her giant Mamoswine by strictly using Quick Attacks and Iron Tails.

Icie was pondering the possibility that Red put his Pokémon on steroids while she retracted her Mamoswine and eyed Glaceon, who sat at her feet with his tail brushing over the snow in excitement. She thought over his move set momentarily before nodding to him. And he was off to the field in a split second, shaking snow from his fur with giddy anticipation.

"Better be on your toes," she told her most trusted partner. "This one's fast, so keep your eyes on it and try not to get hit."

Hackles now raised, Glaceon nodded to his trainer seriously. Now the real battle was about to get started.

Liam watched anxiously as Icie commanded an Ice Fang. The small blue Pokémon charged forward, as light on its feet as it could be, and barely visible through the howling snow, and came up on Pikachu, just barely managing to sink his ice-covered canines into its tail. The small mouse Pokémon tried in vain to shake it off at first, but then, upon Red's command, got it off with an Iron Tail that resulted in a critical hit because of the incredibly close range. Glaceon skidded back, snow forming what looked like a little tunnel as it went, but stopped only about ten feet away from his target.

"Blizzard."

Glaceon complied to the command and the already horrible storm only seemed to worsen for about twenty seconds as unrealistically strong winds and snows whipped at Pikachu's tiny little body and left it covered in a thin sheet of ice.

Liam could head Red curse as he found that his Pokémon had taken so much damage before he ordered a Thunderbolt. Unfortunately for Red, Glaceon happened to have the ability Snow Cloak, so the snow storm helped him stay out of Pikachu's sight long enough to dodge the attack. The ice-type was already at a large advantage on this battlefield.

However, the moment that Pikachu spotted Glaceon again, coming in for yet another Ice Fang, it launched another Thunderbolt, which made Glaceon stop in its advances and take the damage of the electricity that ran through his veins for a brief moment before disappearing.

Between the head-on Iron Tail and Thunderbolt, Icie could tell that her Pokémon was taking a lot of damage. Plus, there was one more move that Red wasn't showing yet, so he must have had something powerful up his sleeve. It was time to pull out her best chance of beating this Pikachu.

"Glaceon, Dig."

Immediately, the small ice-type began to paw into the ice and snow, and, before Pikachu managed to get in a Quick Attack, he found his way underneath the ground, leaving Pikachu alone on the battlefield momentarily.

Pikachu was on its toes, listening carefully for the sounds of digging to come up above ground, just as Red had told it.

When the ground began to collapse beneath in, Pikachu quickly leapt into the air, but not quickly enough to avoid being hit by another Ice Fang as Glaceon came up from beneath it.

Once again, Red dealt with the Ice Fang with an Iron Tail and, seeing how tired both Pokémon looked, decided to wrap up the battle. "Volt Tackle."

Pikachu began to run for Glaceon with sparks lighting up its fur and a light of electricity surrounding its tiny body.

Had Pikachu been any slower of a Pokémon, Glaceon may have won this battle. He may have been able to avoid that Volt Tackle using dig, let it take the damage from its recoil move, and finished things up when it came back to the surface of the ground once more. All it would have needed to do afterwards was defeat the Pokémon that Red had withdrawn earlier.

Unfortunately, Pikachu was as quick as lightning, and hit its opponent directly, causing Glaceon to be pushed back at Icie's feet with limbs that refused to move. Pikachu flinched a little bit as it took the damage that using Volt Tackle cost, but then it was gone, and it went bounding back to the middle of the battlefield, waiting for its next challenge.

Icie bent down to pick up Glaceon and pet it gently behind the ear with a sort of tenderness that Liam had only seen her handle her Pokémon with before. He could see her lips move as she said some encouraging words to her by-far favorite Pokémon, and returned him to his pokéball.

She then looked up at Red and shook her head.

Liam could understand the choice. All she had left was Cubchoo, and he had been caught very recently. Coupled with the fact that he had very little time for training, the tiny Pokémon would stand no chance against Red's Pikachu.

Red nodded, and Pikachu bounded back to him, chirping in joy, as he walked across the field to Icie and stuck his hand out.

Icie glared at the hand before looking back at his face. Liam could only watch as she _shoved_ the Pokémon _champion_ out of her way and dragged Liam by the sleeve as she left. She was pulling so hard on him that Liam actually thought for a moment that she was going to tear his arm out of its socket, but as soon as they were of sight of Red's cabin, she let go of him and started blundering ahead, muttering to herself.

He swore that he heard the word "bastard" somewhere in there, but Liam couldn't be completely sure, as the howling winds were still making it hard to hear _anything_, much less Icie's mindless, frustrated mumbles.

Liam had found himself disappointed by the result of the battle, but at the same time he knew that Daniel Corey gave them this job, knowing that it wouldn't be easy, so he supposed that it wouldn't be too big of a deal that they couldn't get Red on their side for now. They still had plenty of time to get him on board.

Besides, they had to deal with those natives tomorrow. It would probably be best if he didn't worry over this too much.

**Author's Note:**

**Yeah. I _suck_ with battle scenes. That's why I kinda skimmed over most of the Icie vs. Red battle.**

**Now for the big news. Are you ready? I'm doing a Carly's Partner OC contest. Basically, you'll PM an OC that you totally think could be an awesome partner for Carly, and you'll compete with it against the others. I have details and the OC form in my profile, if you're interested. So far, I've already got an entry on the way from my brother, and he hasn't even _read_ the story. But whatevs. Feel free to enter if you want. Just remember that the biggest rule is this: NO SUES. Seriously. You're OC will be stamped with a "ban" sign and forbidden from voting if it's a Mary/Gary-Sue. So don't do it.**

**That's about all I've got for now, so (happy/merry) late (Christmas/Chanukah/New Year's), and I'll see you next chapter.**


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